Alexander III, king of Scots (d.1286)

Biography

Alexander III was the only son of Alexander II and his second wife, Marie de Coucy (d. 1284). He was born at Roxburgh on 4 September 1241 and was inaugurated as king of Scots on 13 July 1249 at Scone. On Christmas day 1251, he was married to the daughter of Henry III of England, Margaret (d. 1275). Their first child, a daughter Margaret, was born in 1261 followed by two sons, Alexander in 1264 and David in 1273. Queen Margaret died in 1275, and within a decade all of his children were dead. Margaret had been married to King Eric of Norway and died in 1283 after giving birth to a daughter; his son Alexander - who had married Margaret of Flanders - died in 1284 while David had died in 1281. On 14 October 1285, Alexander married Yolande de Dreux, daughter of Robert, count of Dreux. This second marriage produced no children, though a posthumous child may have been born stillborn, and when Alexander died on 19 March 1286, his heir was his three-year-old granddaughter, Margaret, the Maid of Norway (d. 1290). Alexander is buried in Dunfermline Abbey. N.H. Reid, 'Alexander III', ODNB, i, 653-55; [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/323]